When I was still working as a software dev in a shared cubicle, my cube-mate and I would bitch about the distracting psychological effect of having that open do

When I was still working as a software dev in a shared cubicle, my cube-mate and I would bitch about the distracting psychological effect of having that open door behind us while we worked. The cubicle walls were decently high -- you had to be pretty tall to peer over them -- but we were in a central location, so other developers, managers, execs, etc. were constantly walking by and scanning us and our screens. Not that we were doing anything reprehensible, but the idea that we could work for 4 hours straight then spend 5 minutes on Slashdot and be shoulder-surfed by just the wrong person didn't sit well. Well, during a tour of the new server room, we found a little side closet containing... leftover cubicle pieces! Knowing it probably wouldn't fly, we ran the idea by the boss anyway: can we take the leftover pieces and build an entryway to our cubicle? Hmm - he'd check on that and get back to us. Soon the word came back -- kudos for our creativity, sure it was a neat idea, but due to fire regulations we couldn't extend our cube into that main hallway. Okay, so he didn't want to mess with the status quo but didn't want to have to argue about it, so he was passing the buck, which I admit annoyed me a bit. Fortunately, it's pretty trivial to call the local Fire Marshall and check this sort of thing, so I did. Turns out that if your hallway is still as wide as the exit door, you aren't breaking any regulations, so the cube-mate and I brought lunch the next day, waited until the rest of the office went out to eat, and got out the allen wrenches. We were just tightening the last bolts when or manager got back. --Hey guys, now wait a minute - --Ah, don't worry! It's okay: I checked with the fire marshall, and we actually could expand by another 5 or 6 feet and still be fine! We're sticking to the original plan, though... He didn't have much response to that beyond a wry smile.